Coming off setraline

[sunburntfizz]

Without going into detail here DD (17) will be coming off setraline. We will be reducing dosage by 25mg every 2 weeks. On the way down we may hit the dose that is right but right now 100mg hasn't suited. The advantages don't outweigh the disadvantages for her right now. There's not enough improvements and the anxiety and feeling on edge is still there. She has ASD so we don't know what is ASD and what is the depression or the medication. She also has extreme tiredness.

What are your experiences and learnings of a good way of coming off this.

I am on 200mg now. I tried to cut it down but just couldnt cope with life. I felt so sick.

Skye sorry to hear this. I think the guidance is to do it very very slow. Maybe 5% at a time. How much did you try to cut by?

I tried to cut by 50mg but I am back to cutting to 175mg atm xxx

That may be better skye. I wish you luck with this.

@Rainbows12 how are things with your DS? Hope he is doing ok now that school term has started.

DD better emotionally but still feeling spaced out and woozy a bit every day. Haven't found any pattern yet as to when the dizzy spells happen. They last a few hours. She is continuing her supplements - have moved to a B12 spray and giving vitamin C every so often as well. If only these dizzy spells would stop it would be so much better.

All going reasonably well. Things are better all in all off the meds. Dizzy spells lasted 3-4 weeks for my son then stopped altogether so hang in there. We are now trying to find new coping mechanisms when he starts to feel overwhelmed- usually quiet time in his bed sorts him out. I have to be careful to trust him and give him space as it’s easy for me to catastrophise and think we are slipping down the slope again. So far, he’s proved me otherwise. Keep on keeping on. Xx

So DS has had a set back with high anxiety. Despite this, still no regrets coming off sertraline. @sunburntfizz @LiveandBreathe I hope you and yours are doing well.

Sorry to hear that there were setbacks @Rainbows12. How are things now? I think these are waves and they do pass. Are there things he is able to do to manage his anxiety?

DD has been mostly ok but moods have been up and down at times. Her energy levels much much better than before but still building up and she still does get tired at the end of the day. We have had a few bouts of real emotional weeping which are so unlike her. But like you so glad to be off this and would never go back.

The change of seasons have been a little bump - noticed more anxiety so have been eating more greens. I've started taking a B vitamin as well. The usual Vitamin D3 doesn't seem to be doing much, so I've just bought the spray to have as well as tablets.

Someone at work told me they take a beta blocker for anxiety e.g. before big presentations. I was interested to hear that though I can't say anxiety affects me so much.

A miracle brain fog pill would be good at the moment though!

@LiveandBreathe we have moved to sprays as well for B, D and even magnesium. The magnesium is applied to the skin. The few times we have tried it at night have had a good restful sleep. Not sure if it can help with daytime anxiety.

We have had days of anxiety too for no apparent reason. I do think these are waves and windows and we have to keep proactively doing everything to look after our health. My own mental health has taken a battering due to all the stresses with DDs health and other things with family health and perimenopause. If it hadn't been for DDs experience I would have been seriously tempted to turn to ADs myself. The thing that she is not doing currently is any exercise and need to get her back to doing some simple yoga at least a few times a week as I think this helped her when she was doing it before.

We also found doubling the omega dose helped with the brain fog. This with the vitamin B should help.

Feeling a bit better. Conversely, feeling and getting through anxiety again has given me a boost. I now know that is is coping strategies, not medication that I need. Maybe I should have got more of them while on the medication (I thought I had - exercise, diet etc.) but the meds masked the anxiety and compulsive behaviours which is what I need to work through. I'm leaning towards getting a counsellor for myself, having found a reasonably priced one who does Skype. Have you thought of counselling for yourself @sunburntfizz?

That sounds so positive @LiveandBreathe . Did you mean counselling for me or DD. DD is having some with CAHMS but I am not sure how good it is. We may end up continuing with some other counselling after. She too is still having waves of depression and anxiety at the moment so it is hard. It does feel like 2 steps forward and 1 step back.

But I too probably need counselling. As this entire situation has been extremely difficult. I just need to learn to prioritise my health too. There are so many counsellors out there - did you have a recommendation or are you just trying one. I hope this helps and your self awareness sounds really positive. Wish you all the best.

Look for a BACP registered therapist. www.bacp.co.uk. I can't recommend enough contacting a few for an initial call, this should be free. Finding one you click with is so important.

Will see how the call goes with this first one, but think I will contact a couple of others too.

@Rainbows12 have been thinking about you and your son. How is he doing?

@LiveandBreathe how about you? Hope things stayed settled.

I really hope that you are all doing well. Things have been mostly good here. We have had the off day of low moods but given it has been winter it has not been bad all. Things have been stable for some time and DD has continued to be able to study more and more.

DD has blocked much off last year from her mind (perhaps too painful) and on the whole we are all doing better. But there are definite scars left from this journey. The one difference it has made is that we have all realised the importance of self care.